The meeting of construction ministers in Berlin caused disappointment among representatives of the construction industry.

“We were clearly hoping for more than further announcements.

If you want more apartments, you have to make sure that they can be built,” said Felix Pakleppa, general manager of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry.

The building ministers of the federal states met with Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz on Friday for an extraordinary meeting.

The aim was to discuss the results of the "Alliance for Affordable Housing" set up by the Federal Government.

Bernd Freytag

Business correspondent Rhein-Neckar-Saar based in Mainz.

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In mid-October, the 35 players from companies, municipalities and trade unions submitted more than 180 individual proposals to boost housing construction.

They range from state subsidy programs to the designation of more building areas to support for so-called serial construction.

The aim is to build 400,000 apartments per year in Germany, 100,000 of which are socially funded.

Currently there are almost 300,000.

The state building ministers did not decide on any concrete measures.

The results of the alliance were “subjected to an initial prioritization”, as stated in a final declaration.

The federal and state governments could only improve housing together.

In addition, there is a need for a new balance between privately financed and socially subsidized housing.

Fewer orders and late promotion

The results are also disappointing for construction companies, whose orders are currently between 20 and 25 percent behind the previous year's figures, because it was only made public the day before that the new subsidy programs for new buildings will not be available before March, maybe even in the second Quarter.

But without “clear political support”, the number of newly built rental apartments and homes will drop significantly, says Pakleppa.

According to ZDB estimates, the funding for the "Efficiency House 40", which has been tightened this year, increases the construction costs for a single-family house by 30,000 euros.

The association also points out that the federal government has significantly reduced funding for loans and repayment grants for new buildings to one billion euros.

In the past few years, ten billion euros would have been available for this.

Wanting to build more apartments, but at the same time restricting the funding framework, does not go together.

In addition to money, the construction industry is driven by the patchwork of state building regulations.

If serial construction - i.e. the construction of apartment buildings with prefabricated concrete parts - is to be increased as desired by politicians, the building regulations urgently need to be standardized, said Tim-Oliver Müller from the Main Association of the German Construction Industry.

The different regulations prevented cost-effective construction.

According to him, the requirements that differ from state to state, for example for prefabricated staircases or balustrades, prevent uniform and therefore efficient production.

In addition, a house built in this way and already approved in Hamburg requires a new “type approval” in Munich.